(For the 10th year in a row (but who’s counting?) we’re delighted to share a year-end music list from Canadian musician Seb Painchaud — whose band Tumbleweed Dealer finally came out with a new album this year! “Eclectic” has always been the first word that comes to mind in perusing Seb’s lists, and as you’ll discover, this year is no different. )
In this day and age, releasing music is like screaming into the abyss, except the echoes of your screams are interrupted by ICE advertisements. So, let’s give a nod to not only the following releases that grabbed my attention this year, but to every artist participating in the futile process of vomiting their art into this digital age.
Backxwash – Only Dust Remains
https://backxwash.bandcamp.com/album/only-dust-remains
Making its 2nd appearance on one of my yearly lists, this album has beats that are both abstract and banging at the same time. They shift and evolve like a living being rather than just loop like a typical hip-hop track. And by shift, I mean more of a slow creepy crawl on the floor as Backxwash spews its inner most thoughts all over it.
Changeling – S/T
https://changelingofficial.bandcamp.com/album/changeling
Gotta be honest, at first listen I wasn’t hooked. Seemed like just another one million notes per minute tech death band with wiggly wiggly fretless bass noodlings over it. I was convinced to give it a 2nd try and got through the first minute of typical Necrophagist worship to hear some of the most diversified song writing I have ever heard in modern death. It’s all over the place in just the right way. It’s almost like it was made by design to change all the time… oh shit, now I get it. Changeling. Duh.
Futuropaco – Fortezza Di Vetro, Vol 2
El Paraiso Records is my go-to place for good psych/space rock. But while most bands go for long drawn-out jams that make you feel like you are drifting through an astral field, these guys keep it earth-bound. Solid basslines, memorable melodies, these guys make you feel like you are tripping balls while still planted firmly on the earthly plane.
Jane Remover – Revengeseekerz
https://janeremover.bandcamp.com/album/revengeseekerz
It’s like Hyper Pop but slowed down into chill beats. Kinda like when my kid’s ADHD zeros-in on his interest-of-the-week instead of giving him the zoomies. Its manic madness you can nod your head to.
Will Scott III – Snooze
https://willscottiii.bandcamp.com/album/snooze
Fun little EP of jazzy alternative country instrumentals. You didn’t know you needed chill steel guitar jams in your life, but you do.
Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda & Antonio Sánchez – BEATrio
Béla Fleck and his unique brand of banjo jazz coming out with this absolutely gorgeous album so late in his career was not on my 2025 bingo card, but I will take it!
BYONOISEGENERATOR – Subnormal Dives
https://byonoisegenerator-label.bandcamp.com/album/subnormal-dives
I had never seen Jazzgrind as a viable subgenre because it seemed to bring out the worst of both genres as most bands go for the noisiest of both genres in an attempt to meld them together. Not here. Quality grind with hints of actually well-written jazz!
Hooffoot – Phantom Limb
https://hooffoot.bandcamp.com/album/phantom-limb
The album hits both ends of the spectrum for repetitive, bass-driven jazz music. The opening track has a Bitches Brew feel to it, while the album develops more of a Krautrock vibe as it goes on, touching on Canterbury scene melodies here and there.
Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette
https://aesoprock.bandcamp.com/album/black-hole-superette
Aesop Rock delivered not one but 2 amazing albums. While I did enjoy the stripped-down approach of I Heard It’s A Mess There Too, it’s on this one that classic Aesop really came to shine. His best release since The Impossible Kid. If you ever doubted that he was a master storyteller, just put on “John Something”, a track that should have been a throwaway laid-back track on an otherwise upbeat album, but the way he tells this mundane story of a public speaker telling the crowd to go watch an Ali documentary will have you waiting on every word.
Epica – Aspiral
Its only recently I rediscovered an appreciation for symphonic metal. I revisited the first Within Temptation and figured I should check out some of the bands I have been sleeping on for years. Epica had just dropped this album and I was blown away. You know how they say if you synch up Wizard of Oz and Darkside Of The Moon it fits perfectly if you’re high enough? Well it sounded like these guys synched up an Evanescence album with a Haggard record and it actually worked without the need of psychedelic drugs. Throw in a touch of The Project Hate on the heavier moments and this one ticked a bunch of boxes for me.
Azymuth – Marca Passo
https://azymuth.bandcamp.com/album/marca-passo
These latin rock legends releasing their career best this late in the game gives hope to all us older-ass musicians out there.
Warper – Something, Sometime
https://warperband.bandcamp.com/album/something-sometime
In a year where I could make a top 20 list of just Shoegaze records, I declare these guys number 1! (Read this in Madara Uchiha’s voice)
Yugen Blakrok – The Illusion Of Being
https://yugenblakrok.bandcamp.com/album/the-illusion-of-being
Words cannot express how epic these songs are. Hip-Hop can be crude but, like shown here, it can be art.
Jonny Nash – Once Was Ours Forever
https://jonnynash.bandcamp.com/album/once-was-ours-forever
Ambient used to be a dirty word to me. I always said I wanted my music to be like, music, you know? But having replaced my before-bed Netflix sessions with Spotify listening sessions (I know, Spotify invests in military tech, but Netflix canceled GLOW without giving us a final season so I really just traded one evil for another) in an attempt to get a better night of sleep, that opened up the world of Ambient to me, discovering slews of new acts. Ambient Jazz was one of the first to grab my attention, and this album sits at the top of all my sleepytime discoveries.
To Be Gentle – I Am A Spiritual Being Having A Human Experience
https://tobegentle.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-a-spiritual-being-having-a-human-experience
I often say the line between modern screamo (or skramz if that’s your preferred genre pronoun, I respect that) and post-black metal is a fine one, and it’s never been as true as on this gargantuan release. Yes, you saw that right, one of the tracks is over an hour long. Be patient, it is rewarding.
Disinblud – Disinblud
https://rachika.bandcamp.com/album/disiniblud
Another one of those ambient projects I’ve opened up my ears to this year. Meticulously crafted and rather dense and busy while remaining abstract and lite, this is the kind of project that legitimizes the genre amid a slew of artists releasing random noises and calling it art.
Killing Me Softly – To Forever Fall Through God’s Safety Net
https://killingmesoftlyhc.bandcamp.com/album/to-forever-fall-through-gods-safety-net
The god-awful band name, the horribly pretentious album title, you know if it’s here it HAS to be fucking good. Harkening back to the good old myspace days of metalcore, this shit brings nothing new to the table but it does take a 20-pound dump of heaviness right on it while your family tries to eat thanksgiving dinner.
******
This seems like a strategically not too at the beginning yet not at the end either place to remind you that I, too, screamed into the void this year to a resounding chorus of meh. Then again, I tried to market an album with a hip hop track to prog loving boomers. It’s on me for forgetting that the progressive part of progressive rock is ironic. Either way, here it is.
Maruja – Pain To Power
Can’t decide if you want to listen to Rage Against The Machine or Mahavishnu Orchestra? Boy do I have a fucking album for you! Punk jazz usually means jazz played shittily or punk played uninterestingly, but in this case, you get the balls AND the shaft ramming down your throat. Memorable jazz hooks over hard ass grooves, I am really not sure why this took such a homoerotic turn but hey I am going with it. Possibly my favorite album of the year.
Blood Howl – Agony Grimoire
https://bloodhowlmetal.bandcamp.com/album/agony-grimoire
Delivering on all the promise shown in their previous EPs, this album shows that not only is blackened metalcore a thing, but it should’ve been a thing a long fucking time ago. The riffs say tight jeans but the atmosphere says kill yourself.
Muito Kaballa – Tomorrow A Flower
http://muitokaballa.bandcamp.com/album/tomorrow-a-flower
This one needs to be blasted at high volume in your car, preferably early in the morning while stuck in traffic. You need to not just hear, but also FEEL, the bass line as it is the glue that holds this afrobeat-adjacent nu jazz affair together. Simple but well written basslines that are woven through the fabric of the music in an efficient yet heartfelt manner. I wish I was talented enough to say as much with as little.
Sci-Fi The Mastermind – Superhuman Crystallized Intergalactically-Formed Intelligence
The beats of early JMT with the vocal delivery of Gravediggaz, this dude is like a love letter to all the good shit that got me into rap in the first place.
Nene Heroine – 4
https://neneheroine.bandcamp.com/album/4
Probably my favorite jazz album of the year.
Now I just wanna end this by saying I swear I’m not as bitter as these lists make me sound. It was an awesome year. Released the album I worked 8 years on, got engaged, got my blue belt. Something about making these lists makes me focus on the negatives in life and the music industry, but we are truly lucky to have access to all this amazing music at the tip of our fingers. We gotta stop taking that for granted. Happy holidays yah cunts!